I think it is very important to ensure that you keep in touch with your elected officials, if nothing more than to remind them that you are paying attention and that your next vote will be influenced by how they represent you. That being said, I sat down and took the time to pen something out to my legislators (Rep. Duncan, Sen. Alexander, Sen. Corker) and President Obama.

It is regrettable that I should have to write a letter such as this, but I do it out of a very serious concern that legislators are not capable of solving real problems and instead cloak the problem to make uninformed people happy, all the while pushing their own agenda. The recent events in our nation are true tragedies and something has to be done to help prevent catastrophic events like these from happening. It has been said, from multiple sources, that Senator Feinstein has plans to propose another "Assault Weapon Ban" on 03Jan13. This is not how you prevent crime. In her eyes, an "Assault Weapon" is pretty much any weapon that looks "scary" regardless of functionality. What she, and plenty of the rest of your colleagues fail to realize is that these "scary" looking weapons do more to keep us safe than to harm us. The FBI website clearly shows that there are very few intentional murders every year using what Senator Feinstein and others consider to be "Assault Weapons" and what you don't ever hear about is how many homes are protected by these exact firearms. Taking these weapons away from law abiding citizens will only ensure that they will most certainly have a lesser chance of survival against a criminal that will not follow the "Assault Weapon Ban" when he decides to enter a home unlawfully. Criminals don't care what laws they break. When a criminal kicks in a door with intent to rob and murder, the crimes he has chosen to commit generally carry a more serious penalty than a gun crime. All the while the law abiding citizen pays the ultimate penalty as he is no longer able to protect himself and his family from crime. Instead of attempting to ban firearms that play a minimal role in crime comparatively, perhaps we should put these firearms in the hands of qualified Americans in a real effort to make a change instead of all but guaranteeing a rise in crime if something like this is passed. I urge you to research the numbers during and after the 1994-2004 "Assault Weapons Ban" concerning weapons that were banned during that time. Crime went up during 1994-2004 and has steadily dropped all the way up until now. How can this be if an "Assault Weapons Ban" prevents crime? Taking weapons away from the populous does not guarantee that we will live in a safer society, in fact it does quite the opposite. Not only do armed citizens protect themselves from domestic enemies, but foreign enemies also. A large part of the fear other nations have for us has very little to do with our military and quite a bit to do with our citizens ability to protect themselves. Imparting regulations on these firearms, or any others, is not only irresponsible, but dangerous.

Very Respectfully,
Shane Huskey

I think that using the premade letters does help, but I think that it is also a good idea to write something more personal. I have received a response from both Sen. Alexander and Sen. Corker, but nothing from the President or Rep. Duncan.